Archaeologists have discovered a total of 65 tombs belonging to the Byzantine Era in the ancient city of Stratonicea (Caria) during excavations last year.

Professor Bilal Söğüt of Pamukkale University, the head of the Stratonicea excavations, talked to an Anadolu Agency correspondent and said the excavations in 2016 revealed new discoveries about the 3,500 years old settlement. He further informed that archaeologists discovered traces of different settlements belonging to different eras in the ancient city, also known as the “City of Gladiators.”

The ancient city of Stratonicea is in UNESCO’s Tentative World Heritage List located in Muğla and remained an important hub during the Hellenistic era as well as Roman, Byzantine, Turkic beylik, Ottoman and Republican eras.